Today on the blog I thought I'd spotlight a fellow Entangled author, Elizabeth Bright. Her first historical novel, Twice as Wicked, debuts on October 9, 2017. It sounds like a fantastic read. and the cover is beautiful. See for yourself. Better yet, read the blurb and exclusive excerpt below, and make up your own mind. I know it's on my To Read list!​

Blurb

Miss Alice Bursnell is determined to wreak revenge on Nathaniel Eastwood, Viscount Abingdon, for the seduction, ruin, and death of her beloved twin sister. But how to expose a seducer without falling prey herself? As she gets closer to Nathaniel, she finds she is in serious danger of following in her sister’s much-too-tempted footsteps. The man is nothing like the heartless rake she expected...and his kisses are truly divine. Could she be wrong about him?​ When a mysterious and gorgeous woman confronts Nathaniel at a fancy ball, he suspects she has murder on her mind—his own. But the more he tries to determine who the deceptively innocent beauty is—and what she’s up to—the deeper he falls under her alluring spell. Nathaniel fears he’s in imminent danger of losing his life...or worse, his heart.​

​Excerpt

​Chapter One

London, 1817

He saw her before she saw him.

Standing at the top of the staircase, Lord Nathaniel Eastwood, Viscount Abingdon, had an excellent view of the Duke of Wessex’s ballroom and all its occupants—none of whom were half so beguiling as the stranger scowling into her lemonade. A huge crystal chandelier whirled dizzily overhead, casting a kaleidoscope of rainbows over the dark hue of her hair. It was impossible not to notice her. She was wearing a dress of rich red velvet, a vivid contrast to the other young maidens who were clothed in white and pale pastels.

She was, he told himself grimly, exactly the type of woman to put arsenic in one’s porridge. It was, unfortunately, a topic with which he was intimately familiar.And yet, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Nathaniel hated balls. He hated London, too. Yet here he was, subjected to both horrors at the very same time, an unhappy circumstance he blamed entirely on Wessex. Every season it was the same thing. Wessex would lure Nathaniel from his peaceful estate in Hampshire with the promise of Something Important, which usually turned out to be a scrape involving a woman, who was, more often than not, married. Sometimes it was not even that and Wessex was merely bored.

Like this time.

All eyes were on them now. Nathaniel began to sweat. He felt their stares, and while he could not hear their whispers, he could easily imagine what they said. There is the charming duke and his awkward friend. Or perhaps they paid him no notice at all. People rarely did when he was standing next to the illustrious Wessex.

Nathaniel glanced at the lady in red. Then he looked away again.

He began to plot his escape. Surely, he could leave after half an hour? That would not be too rude, would it? By that point, Wessex would be occupied with his next victim and would barely notice his presence, anyway. Perhaps he would get a lemonade at the table where the lady in red was standing and then walk the perimeter of the room, saying hello to anyone necessary and leaving the rest alone. Then it would be safe to leave.

He would not dance, of course. Nathaniel never danced.

Again, he looked to the lady in red. Again, he looked away.

“She is something, is she not?” Wessex murmured by his side.

“Who?”

Wessex gave him a speaking glance. It had clearly not escaped his friend’s notice just which female had captured Nathaniel’s attention. “The lady in red.” He eyed the girl speculatively. “A bit sullen, perhaps, but that just adds to her charm. One gets the instinctive feeling that she would not bore a man with chatter of bonnets. If her dance card is not yet full, it will be when I’m through with her.” He spoke with the cocky assurance of a man whose advances were never spurned.

“Hmm.” Nathaniel grunted noncommittally. Lord Sebastien Sinclair, Duke of Wessex, was a rake. One couldn’t expect a rake to ignore a specimen like the lady in red. Why should Nathaniel care if Wessex danced one, three, or twenty dances with the girl? He did not care. But he did want to give his friend a small push down the marble staircase—not enough to kill him, but enough to leave him bruised and unable to dance. Call it an occupational hazard. A rake had to expect the occasional push down a stairway.

Nathaniel was not a rake. He was too brusque to be charming and too unfashionable to be dashing. And as he was already in peril of being pushed down any number of staircases, he felt no need to add to the danger with scorned ladies and cuckolded husbands.​Which was why he had no intention of making the acquaintance of the lady in red. She could take her silky hair and her lovely throat and that adorable scowl and go to--

​Debut author Elizabeth Bright is a writer, attorney, and mother. After spending ten years in New Orleans (yes, she survived Hurricane Katrina), she relocated to Washington, D.C. to be closer to family. When she’s not writing, arguing, or mothering, she can be found hiking in the Shenandoah or rock climbing at Great Falls.

I hope you've already read the popular romance The Pirate's Bride, because its sequel is about to come out on October 1, entitled The Pirate Bride's Holiday Masquerade. Before it does, I thought I'd reveal a few secrets from the Q and A session I had with my publisher.

Now that Sophie and Andre are together, what problems will they encounter in this book? Every couple faces trust issues, and Andre and Sophie are no different. Trust in each other, and their love for one another. And trust that the other will do the right thing, which is a big element in this sequel to The Pirate’s Bride.

Limey from Pirate’s Bride seemed to have a thing with Ting, what happened between them? Limey returned to Formosa after The Pirate’s Bride ended. For saving Louis’s life, he was awarded a ship and a sea. He went back and married Ting, and they had a baby, one of many more, I’m sure. She will probably inherit her mother’s holdings, and he will rule beside her. Not bad for a London orphan, is it?

Where did Gilbert go? Will he come back in The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade? Ah, a magician (author) never reveals her secrets!

Can you describe what your book is about in one sentence? Sophie Bellard must risk the love she has for her husband in order to save him from a despicable foe.

What is the theme of The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade? Trust, honesty

What was your favorite part of writing The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade? I loved describing the ball. I did so much research about masquerade balls, types of masks, dresses, and even men’s clothing to make sure the scene was realistic.

Tell us about the conflict in this book. What is at stake for your characters? Sophie may lose her husband, possibly her entire marriage, because of this conflict. She may lose Andre’s trust, and her self-respect. Andre may lose his wife, and he may lose his freedom. He may never trust his wife again. Louis may lose his entire extended family. At the core of this book is the theme, which is trust and honesty.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade? I learned a lot about masks. I learned why some of the men’s masks were shaped the way they were (sexual), what materials were used on the masks, and even why masquerades were so popular (people could act differently within a constraining society).

What makes your book different from other books in your genre? I think what makes this holiday sequel different is that it’s about pirates on land, in New Orleans. We are used to pirates in the tropics, though there were many along our southeastern seaboard, actually. Also, even though there are hundreds of blackmail schemes, I think that the return of rapist Gilbert Harrington makes this story unique.

Who are your readers and why will they love your book? My readers are pirate lovers, return readers from The Pirate’s Bride, and even Regency time period lovers, because this ball is reminiscent of Regency novel balls. My readers are also Wattpad readers who requested a sequel to The Pirate’s Bride. They wanted to know what happened to Andre and Sophie.

What other projects are you working on? Right now I just finished a contemporary romantic suspense that is due out in 2018. I also have a couple finished romances that I want to send out their synopses to my editors, to see if they can find a home.

Why did you write The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade? I wrote this sequel to satisfy Wattpad readers who wanted to know what happened to the characters. They were incredibly invested in Andre’s and Sophie’s love story.

Who did you write The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade for (audience)? The audience should be pirate lovers, Pirates of the Caribbean movie lovers, Regency lovers, and HEA readers who like to read about previous characters. It is also written for Christmas romance lovers. I like to read holiday stories; I figure my readers would love a Christmas story from me.

Any last thoughts? Romance readers want to be swept away and experience love and adventure on the high seas. They also like Christmas-themed stories. Why not combine both, and make a thrilling, holiday sequel that readers will want to revisit every year?

​There you have it: the behind the book info you can use when you buy The Pirate Bride's Holiday Masquerade on Oct. 1. And if you didn't read The Pirate's Bride (What?), here's the link to get that book now. And make sure you let me know what you think of them both!

Ahoy there, landlubbers! Do I have a treat for you. Fellow author of high seas romance, Katherine Bone, is a guest today on my blog, since I'm a little busy getting surgery on my foot. No peg legs for me. I hope you give her a warm welcome.

Thank you for welcoming me aboard your blog today, Lady Cathy! I’m happy to be here. ;)Ahoy, me hearties! I’m Katherine Bone, and I write Regency Pirate Romance. I’m here today to share research I’ve done on self-defense in the early 1800s, as well as my September 7th release, The Mercenary Pirate, Book Ten in The Heart of a Hero Series. While writing the book, I wanted to create riveting and historically correct fight scenes for my Wolverine-inspired hero. I also needed to learn more about the language and terms of the times, hand-to-hand fighting techniques, and how women protected themselves in the 19th Century. (My heroine is Storm/Rogue-inspired.)To get the best swashbuckling scenes I could, I bought several books on the subject, but one stood out from the rest.Self-Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies, a 19th Century Treatise on Boxing, Kicking, Grappling, and Fencing with the Cane and Quarterstaff by Colonel Thomas Hoyer Monstery. The book includes ancient systems of salle d’armes (methods of defense) in battle and affairs of honor: Spanish knife, German schlager, French quarterstaff, rapier, sword, bayonet, lance, dagger, cloak, staff, cane, saber, and so forth, originating in Europe and Asia. The antiquated techniques were expanded upon by fencing masters of the times, men like Swedish fencing-master Ling, German born Maȋtre d’Armes Frederick Rohdes, famous boxing champion William Thompson, also known as ‘Bendigo,' and French fencing master Augustin Grisier.Colonel Monstery trained well-known actors Junius Brutus Booth and his brother Edwin Booth, older brothers of John Wilkes Booth. He mentored the greatest 19th Century Spanish swordswoman that ever was, Ella Hattan, known as ‘Jaquarina’. And his fighting styles varied from the German Turner system, British purring (shin-kicking), Welsh jump-kicking, Danish head-fighting, and grappling, kicking, biting, scratching, and eye-gouging (the brutal American style). Every technique took incredible physical and mental concentration, vigor and power.Here are some historical self-defense terms:Advance: “Double the distance between the feet… And then bring up the rear foot to ‘Guard’ distance.Chancery: To get an adversary ‘in chancery’ is to get him in a head-lock or a choke hold.Evasion: Moving “out of the line of an enemy’s blow … faster than the blow can be sent,” while at the same time coming “within striking distance of the opponent without danger to yourself.”Feint: Feints are “simulated attacks made at various points in order to draw the perry, while the real attack is directed at the opening left by it.”Guard: “This is the position best calculated for attack and defense, and is that which a sparrer assumes in front of an antagonist.” In fencing, this refers to the “position of person and weapon which the most ready for both attack and defense.”‘The Mark’: The pit of the stomach or the eyes.Parry: “The movement of the weapon which wards off or stops a thrust or cut.”Purring: A British style of fighting characterized by shin-kicking, sometimes (but not always) utilizing grappling holds, and typically practiced while wearing heavy clogs or iron-toed boots.Retreat: “Double the distance between the feet by stepping back with rear foot, then drawing back the forward foot to ‘Guard’ distance.”Rough-and-Tumble: A no-holds-barred, historical style of American fighting characterized by punching, kicking, grappling, hair-pulling, scratching, biting, and eye-gouging.Savate: A form of French street fighting that developed in Paris and Marseilles during the 19th Century. Also known as Boxe Française.Spar: “The correct definition of the word Boxing is striking with the fist. That of Sparring is the practice of improving the art. This term is also applied to those habitual motions of the arms during a contest, while watching an opportunity to strike.” Also, “To make the motions of attack and defense with the arms and closed fists; use the hands in or as if in boxing, either with or without boxing-gloves; practice boxing.”

​Wolfgang, one of Lord Wellington’s craftiest spies, is a fighter, an indulgent loner who is cunning and bold enough to go where others do not dare. He hates distractions and complications, especially those involving the fairer sex, and his instincts have always fueled him and kept him on course, mission after mission. That is, until his talents steer him toward a destiny he didn’t know he had and a search for the brother he barely remembers. And when he comes into contact with a brave young woman disguised as a boy, the urge he feels to protect her might just lead him on the biggest adventure of all.

Selina’s wedding day did not go as planned. Instead, she was kidnapped by pirates and ransomed for an exorbitant sum. Her diabolical captors didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, however, and kept her imprisoned even after their demands were met. More clever than her kidnappers expected, she managed to escape and disguised herself as a boy. Forced to lie, cheat, and steal in order to stay alive, she loses hope of ever returning to the man she intended to marry. Desperate, she agrees to become a handsome and compassionate sea captain’s cabin boy to gain passage back to Cornwall, but the captain endangers the one thing she cannot afford to lose—her heart.Buy AmazonGrab your FREE copy of No Rest for the Wicked, the prequel novella TODAY! (Included in the back of the book, you’ll get the first chapters from the entire series.)

~ Excerpt ~Dear Lord, sometimes Selina hated being right. Robillard had no intention of letting either of them leave. But whatever the captain chose to do, no matter what it entailed, she meant to follow. She could not help Owen chained to a wall.Robillard raised his arms. “Saisissez-les!” Seize them!Men withdrew their weapons, advancing on them from three sides. The captain backed them up to the bar, a paneled wall with windows behind them. Selina swallowed her fear. The enormity of the situation struck her. Acting as her protector, the captain pushed her behind the counter.“What are you doing?” she asked, unable to mask the quiver in her voice. Did he intend fight the corsairs alone?She needn’t have worried. The captain anchored his feet, threw out his arms, flicked something on his wrist guards, and then bowed forward. Blades sprung from within his leather bracings, slicing the air with timely shrieks.Several men approached, their mouths set at cocky angles. Undeterred, the captain roared like a berserker, twirling in a circle and slashing his armed fists at anyone who charged him. Several crazed but determined men decided to test his mettle and leaped forward. But the captain manuevered his body with a flexibility she’d never witnessed before. He wielded his blades upward and down like an expert, knowing exactly which angle would inflict injury on his attackers. Astounding!Selina’s respect for the captain grew with each feint and parry. Wisely, he used his coattails to fend off blows to his middle. Then, with unmatched lethal skill, part professional fencer and part savateur, he launched at his enemy, sweeping his leg around, kicking with the flat of his foot. His boot found its mark, causing damage to one of the two most vulnerable places on a man—the stomach. The force instantly felled his opponent.By the saints, who was this captain of the Sea Wolf? His prowess was unmatched. He was outnumbered and yet managed to defy natural law. Part of her longed to observe his skill as she’d done with Owen, but logic argued against it. Their lives were at risk. She needed to do something to help the captain narrow the odds. But what? She had no weapons.

National best-selling historical romance author Katherine Bone has been passionate about history since she had the opportunity to travel to various Army bases, castles, battlegrounds, and cathedrals as an Army brat turned officer’s wife. Who knew that an Army wife’s passion for romance novels would lead to pirates? Certainly not her rogue, whose Alma Mater’s adage is “Go Army. Beat Navy!” Now enjoying the best of both worlds, Katherine lives with her rogue in the south where she writes about rogues, rebels, and rakes—aka pirates, lords, captains, duty, honor, and country—and the happily-ever-afters that every alpha male and damsel deserve.

​I was born with the gene for bunions. You know, those knobby bumps on the inner side of your feet, that grow and grow until your walk becomes a waddle? My mom had them on both her feet, and when she died at eighty, she couldn’t walk without hanging on to store counters or chair backs (she resisted a cane until her seventy-eighth birthday).

My walk resembles a penguin’s now, and I’m over twenty years younger than my mom at her death. That’s frightening. Because of my pronounced bunions, I decided to have bunion surgery. I had my first surgery in 2013, and my second one is next week.I don’t go into this decision lightly. During my first surgery, I ended up in a cast for eight weeks, and a boot for nearly four weeks longer. Not only must my foot be broken and stapled (and pinned) together again, the toes have to be realigned with my newly repositioned big toe. I guess that’s why it’s taken four years for me to get my nerve back to repeat the process.Besides the complexity of the surgery, there’s the fact that I choose to use a wheelchair as my mode of mobility. Most people can use crutches, but I’m a crutch dropout. I’ve never been very coordinated, and age has not improved my inconsiderable skills. Ditto with the “knee scooter.” That was marginally better for me, but my toes throbbed as they hung over the back of the knee rest. Add to that that you have hand brakes to coordinate, and I’m a disaster. I didn’t like ten-speed bicycles because of the hand brakes.So, for eight weeks, I will be wheelchair-bound. I’ve done it before, and found that I was surprisingly mobile in one. I can roll into the kitchen, and then stand at the sink, or heat my tea on the stove. When I get tired of standing on one leg, I can plop into the chair. Since I live in a one-story house, this is an exceptional choice. I can tend to myself without relying on anyone, unless I want to go outside. It is a decision that works for me.

Along with the physical challenges of only one leg for eight weeks, I do face discomfort. It’s not a procedure for the faint-hearted. After my previous surgery, for the first time I used a painkiller that wasn’t extra-strength Tylenol. I hated the idea of doing so, but that first week is painful. Once the swelling goes down, and the hard cast goes on, the pain is more manageable.I don’t like the idea of slowing down my lifestyle, another reason why I’ve procrastinated on this surgery. You have to think before you do anything, so that you don’t put that foot down by accident. Using the bathroom is like planning a battle strategy! I have always admired the coping skills of people with physical challenges, and this surgery gives me new insight into a small part of what they face on a daily basis. My husband will have to do the laundry, since the machines are in the garage (I won’t miss that job), and he’ll have to do all the errands, plus some of the cooking. I see the doctor a lot during those eight weeks, so hubby will have to maneuver me in and out of my chair, and the car. It will be a hardship on both of us, but the end result will be wonderful. Since my first foot, the right foot, was a total success, I thoroughly expect the other one will be. I have no pain with the right foot, merely a little numbness around the toes, and I can walk ten-to-twelve thousand steps a day. Only my left foot gives me discomfort. I look forward to years of new mobility that my mom never knew.I can honestly say, I’m not looking forward to this surgery. Who would? But, to give myself new freedom, and the ability to wear cute, flat shoes? I’ll gladly go the distance in my wheelchair and walking boot. Add the fact that my younger son will be getting married next March, and I want to be able to dance with him, and you’ll understand why I’m biting the bullet next week. By then the cast, the wheelchair, the cortisone shots, and the unwieldy walking boot will all be distant memories. I’ll be ready to make new, completely mobile ones.Have you had a life-freeing event such as mine? Tell me, to boost my morale!

Author

Just starting out in this writing process. It takes over a person's life. After all, there are no set hours, no specific place to go, no definitive wardrobe. But the worlds you can visit? They make up for everything!